Decision fatigue I’m not sure why we all ignore the cost of making decisions, we tend to go easy and not have a plan for the upcoming days, weeks, and months. It is difficult to get a sense of where we are heading one day at a time, we need some overall idea of what … Read more
The dopamine dilemma Why is consumption (entertainment) so irresistible in the moment? We know afterward that we will feel like crap, but for some reason, it hijacks our rational brain. It all has to do with dopamine release, one of the most important chemicals that the brain produces. Dopamine should be released while we are … Read more
Putting a limit on things in life We are not used to timeboxing but it might be one of the most useful things we can do. Lots of issues in the modern world are related to how much time is spent doing certain activities like work, entertainment, eating, drinking, etc… Putting a limit on these … Read more
The drive to be consistent This is one of the best productivity hacks ever, when we write things down, we have this internal push to be consistent with what we express about ourselves. It is one of the most fundamental aspects of human psychology, we need to be consistent with who we are. This is … Read more
Do you have a time blocked in your calendar for reading technical books? Do you have time blocked in your calendar for journaling and reflection? If not, that might be the first step to take to ensure consistent dedication to the two highest ROI activities. Reading Reading should occupy most of the free time. Reading … Read more
Compounding effect and ROI (return on investment) The best bet you can make in investing is to take advantage of the compound effect, which essentially means, how can I stay consistent and in the game for a long time? Whatever can give us consistency, even in small/modest amounts, will be massive after compounding occurs. And … Read more
Barriers to productivity Atomic Habits (my affiliate link) is probably the best book ever written on productivity. James Clear goes into detail on what is essentially the biggest problem with habits and behavioral change: Identity. The best way to change our identity is to “vote” with behavior. So if there is a technique that guarantees … Read more
I recently came across a very interesting concept called NICE goals from Ali Abdal in his new book Feel good productivity (my affiliate link), and it embodies a proven principle called the 2-minute rule. I was not able to place the 2-minute rule into a framework for goal setting until now. Let’s break NICE goals … Read more
Reflection How often do we stop and reflect on what is going on in our lives? If we don’t reflect upon recent experiences it is difficult to make changes, we are just running on the autopilot mode. Taking just a couple of minutes to reflect on recurring themes, issues, and emotions from recent days can … Read more
Indicators vs facts Emotions are just indicators, and they are designed to protect us in a split-second reaction. But left unchecked, we can easily latch on to them and treat them as facts. Emotions are a way for our subconscious mind to tell us that something is a potential threat to us, and it’s our … Read more